Manx holiday
by constantlearner
Summary: It is the summer after the events of "Great Northern?" John is "being properly naval" but the rest of the Swallows, and the Callums, are at the Lake, Mac has offered to lend Seabear to a reluctant Capt. Flint and once again Nancy finds herself promising that there will be no adventures. (Now marked as complete.)
1. Chapter 1

_A/N This is set the summer after Great Northern? and follows more or less directly after "A short adventure"_

 **Chapter 1 – Three cheers for the GA.**

Peggy returned to Wildcat Island without her captain and came perilously close to sailing in the dark. So close, in fact, that Susan had told Roger to hoist the lantern up the pine tree, and Titty to ready the lanterns to put on the marks for the harbour.

"Thanks for the lanterns." said Peggy as willing hands helped her haul _Amazon_ up next to _Scarab_ and the others enquired after the patient.

"Mother is alright. Just feeling a bit sore and worn out." she assured Titty and Dorothea. "Only Nancy thought maybe she had better stay at home overnight just in case. She says the dentist said to congratulate Susan on spotting what was wrong so quickly, by the way. Anyway, you'll see for yourself tomorrow, because Uncle Jim is back and he's brought his friend Mac – the one who owns _Seabear -_ with him. That's why I'm so late, because they 'phoned from Rio just as I was leaving. Anyway, we're all invited to dinner tomorrow. Uncle Jim wanted to go over to the houseboat tonight and have a feast tomorrow there, but Cook and Nancy and I rushed round with sheets and things so the beds were all made up before they knew it and they didn't really have any excuse. It would be rather rotten to leave Mother out of everything. We'll collect Nancy then and bring her back with us. She'll be fairly champing at the bit by tomorrow."

* * *

Titty wondered afterwards if Mac, whom they had started by addressing very properly as Mr Smith and were all, even Dorothea, cheerfully calling Mac by the time they reached pudding (raspberry fool) made his suggestion while they were all together because he was secretly on their side.

"Why not borrow _Seabear_ again? It's a shame to have her sitting there idly. English schools don't go back until September do they?"

"We don't at least, and nor do the D's and the Swallows." Peggy agreed cheerfully.

"After last time…." Her uncle said doubtfully.

"Oh, but look here, no-one would have foreseen that." Nancy said. "And there really wasn't anything else to do."

"Dick's hardly going to go round seeing rare birds all the time." Roger chipped in hopefully.

"And if I do, I've learned my lesson about keeping it to myself." Dick said a trifle grimly.

"It wasn't really to do with the _Seabear."_ Titty said. "I mean it could have happened anywhere. Well, different birds."

"It was the egg-collector's fault." Susan said. "A rotter like that could turn up anywhere."

"But you can't seem to go five minutes without falling into adventures of some kind." Captain Flint protested. "The business with the North Pole."

"That was a misunderstanding, and it was my fault really." Nancy said firmly. "I won't make that mistake again. And if we were all together it couldn't happen like that."

"That business of the Walkers getting swept out to the North Sea." Captain Flint continued.

"Not their fault." Nancy said firmly. "You just need to avoid headbutting any omnibuses just before bad storms and let me go and buy any petrol that needs buying. And anyway, they coped splendidly."

No-one really could have been sure afterwards how the argument would have ended, but the telephone rang in the hall.

"I'll get it." Peggy said.

"Well, at least I know you're all here." Mrs Blackett said. "Perhaps it's Aunt Maria, wanting to know whether I've called on Countess Severn and the Thames yet."

"She'll surely understand about having a tooth out." Susan said.

"Maybe Mother and Father are coming back from Egypt sooner than they thought." Dorothea said.

"Maybe Bridget's got over her measles and Mother's coming to Holly Howe and bringing her." Titty said.

" _Hello Aunt Maria,"_ Peggy's voice came through the open door. Everyone face, except Mac's dropped. _"How are you? Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."_

" _N… errr Ruth and I are well, thank you, but poor Mother has had to have a tooth extracted."_

" _Yes, in Keswick."_

" _Nancy drove her. Yesterday."_

" _No, she didn't have time to visit her before the abscess happened."_

" _Well, I did sail across to the village yesterday and I met her."_

"Good old Peg. She's got you off the hook, Mother."Nancy said quietly.

" _It was a very short visit, because I'm afraid she had just had her jewellery box stolen. I expect she would have sent her regards otherwise."_

" _No, I'm quite sure John Walker is absolute nowhere near the lake."_

"Oh, I say …" Roger began.

"The beastly rudeness!" and Nancy half rose, face suddenly pale despite her sunburn before her uncle's hand on her shoulder forced her down into her chair again.

"We shouldn't be listening." Susan said, wretchedly.

"Not much choice." Dick said. "It would be even harder for Peggy to hear and say the right thing with us yakking on in the background."

"I'm sorry." said Mrs Blackett spring to her feet and going to the door which she shut after her.

"It's rotten for her." Titty said.

"Maybe the Great Aunt was just asking to be sure you weren't all around to be a bad influence." Dorothea suggested.

Peggy came back in the room grinning.

"The thing is, Uncle Jim, do you feel you can keep an eye on us all better here, sailing about on the lake and wandering about on the fells, or all together on the _Sea Bear?"_

"Your great aunt's not coming here?" Titty said.

"No, she wants Mother to go and stay with her. She's feeling most unwell." Peggy said.

"I thought she had her friend staying with her. Miss Hutchinson or whoever." Captain Flint said.

"Huskinson?"Nancy suggested.

"Huskisson." Peggy said, "Yes but she's had to go home sooner than expected. Maybe they've fallen out."

"Oh, that sort of illness." Her uncle said.

"Beastly for mother though." Nancy said.

"Not quite as rotten as the GA coming here and upsetting Cook and having goes at Mother about the garden and the house and everything." Peggy pointed out.

"I'll see what your Mother has to say."

"She'll say yes." Nancy said confidently.

"And Mrs Walker too."

"She won't want them to catch measles."

"I'm promising nothing until we've discussed it."

"We'll be absolute angels." Nancy promised. "No adventures at all. A flock of flamingos could settle on the cross-trees and we wouldn't even mention them."

* * *

It didn't take very long for phone calls to be made and things to be discussed. Nancy had been right.

"Send me lots of postcards to let me know you're alright." Mrs Blackett said, "but remember, Aunt Maria doesn't know about the _Sea Bear_ , or that you're with the Walkers and the Callums."

"Three cheers for the great aunt" said Nancy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Reports from Ramsey**

 _Sir,_ Nancy glanced again at the book, lying face down and opened on the pillow beside her. She had never had much time for bookmarks. The next bit should be " _in accordance with your orders_ " but she could hardly write that. Except that she could, if she started in a different place. " _In accordance with your orders, I searched for and found a copy of_ Hornblower and Manticore _in a secondhand bookshop, hence the form of this report. I have the honour of informing you that_ Seabear _completed the voyage from_ Mallaig to Ramsey _despite adverse winds and choppy seas, under the command of Captain Flint. I regret to inform you that Mother was unable to embark with us, owing to an unfortunate summons from the enemy in Harrogate and set off on her solo mission with great fortitude. Members of the ship's company carried out their duties in a manner which did them great credit. Captain Susan and the First Mate took the helm for portions of the voyage with great skill and were fortunately entirely free from the malady which afflicted the Able seaman Walker, from which she is now happily recovered._

Would John think she was being too silly? Still there was no time to start again. She could already hear the first shore party, Dot, Susan and Peggy returning with provisions. The rest of them would have to be quick to find a post office and somewhere to buy petrol before the shops shut for the day. Nancy glanced again at the opened book. There were two reports, both with different ends. Either of them at least had the merit of getting round the regular awkwardness of how to end a letter to John. No time for dithering.

 _Respectfully submitted by_

 _Your ob'd't servant_

 _Nancy Blackett_

* * *

 _Dear Dad,_

 _We had a fairly rough crossing from Mallaig. Titty was pretty sick, and Nancy too, but the rest of us were fine. Ramsey's quite interesting; saw the swing bridge in action. Too late for an ice today, but met a chap with a Brough superior ss80 when Nancy and I were cross a square on our way back with the petrol. I'd have gone over to have a look at it anyway, but he was peering in the tank looking a bit fed up – out of petrol. We had only just made it to the garage ourselves before it shut. So we let him have some of ours, and he invited us to visit him and gave us his 'phone number on a scrap of paper. He lives in Port St. Mary, which is one of the places we're going to, So Capt Flint reckons that will be OK._

 _Love from Roger_

* * *

 _Dear Mother and Bridget,_

 _We've arrived in Ramsey, only just in time to buy things before the shops close. I hope Bridget likes the stamp. The Isle of Man isn't actually part of the United Kingdom, it's just that the King is also the Lord of Man, so that's why the stamp is different. Susan took the helm quite a bit on the way across, though not on the very roughest bits, Captain Flint and Nancy both say she did jolly well. We haven't seen any Manx cats yet, but Dick has promised to keep at least one exposure unused on his camera in case we do._

 _With lots of love from us all, Titty_

* * *

 _A/N_

 _Hornblower and the Manticore,_ published in 1933 is was never reprinted after its first edition, nor indeed at any time before that, and I would be absolutely astonished if anyone ever found a copy in a second hand bookshop. Many people, including myself believe that _The Happy Return_ published in 1937 was Horatio Hornblower's first appearance in print. The Hornblower of the 1933 novel is a somewhat less angst-ridden figure, neither Barbara Wellesley nor Maria Mason appear at all and there are passing references only to a character called Anne. It is possible that Anne, the recipient of an occasional letter from Hornblower, may have been intended as a future love interest, but she is so lightly sketched that some have suggested that she was a mere narrative device.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 : Letters from Laxey**

 _Dear Mother and Aunt Maria,_

 _After a fairly rough crossing we today visited the Lady Isabella, which is sometimes known as the great Laxey Wheel._

Peggy paused. It looked formal enough to please the great aunt. She could mention nothing more about the crossing, since the great aunt would have assumed that they had come across on the steam packet, and she could say nothing about the Walkers or the Callums. Dick had been scribbling facts and figures down in his little notebook when they were at the mine. Peggy carefully capped Nancy's fountain pen and rolled out of her bunk to find Dick. Dick was on deck and pulled out the notebook and handed it over without taking his eyes from his binoculars, but Peggy thought a smile crossed his face. Well fair enough, the notebook was being useful, whatever Roger might say, even if it was only to sooth the savage beast.

 _The wheel is 72ft and 6ins in diameter and was built in 1854. It was designed by Robert Casement and removed 250 gallons of water per minute from the mine. The mine itself has only recently closed, in 1929, I think._

She probably shouldn't mention the walk up from the harbour, since presumably the great aunt thought they were staying in a hotel somewhere. She still had nothing like the page and a bit that the great aunt would consider the minimum politeness required. She looked at the notebook again. Dick had used symbols. Titty was writing at the table.

"Pb is lead." She replied to Peggy's question. "I don't know the rest. Susan might."

"Cu is copper and Ag is silver." Susan called from the galley.

 _Besides lead, the mine also provided copper, silver and zinc. After this, we went on the electric railway up to the top of Snaefell. The view was extremely fine, especially to the north and east. We certainly saw hills in Galloway and, of course, home. N_ She had nearly written Nancy _Not so sure about the mountains of Mourne. I thought I could see them, but Ruth was not entirely sure that we were not looking at a cloud bank._

Nearly there. Peggy turned the page.

 _Wild fuchsia bushes grow here as part of the hedgerows. They are just coming into bloom and the overall effect is very charming._

She felt quite proud of that sentence.

 _I do wish you were both able to see them; I am sure you would like them._

 _We both hope that you are well and that Aunt Maria has quite recovered from her indisposition,_

 _With love from Margaret and Ruth._

 _Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_

 _Dear Bridgie,_

 _This is a postcard of the Laxey wheel. After we visited it, when went up Snaefell in the Electric train. Even though it was quite cloudy when we got in at Laxey, it felt as if we were in warm sunlight because some of the little window at the top of the tram had golden-yellow glass. It had cleared quite a bit by the time we got to the top. On a clear day they say you can see 6 kingdoms: the Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Heaven. We couldn't see Wales and I'm not sure about Ireland but we saw the rest. There are also some stories about fairies coming out onto the top of Snaefell when it's misty – I expect the trains and people constantly coming to the top is a great nuisance to them. I'll write again from Douglas._

 _Love from Titty._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Dispatches from Douglas

Dear Admiral,

As you'll see by the stamp and the postmark, we are on the Isle of Man. Mr Turner's friend has lent him _Seabear_ again, so we are sailing around the Isle of Man and then back to Mallaig, which is where she lives. We are spending a couple of nights in Douglas. There is a fascinating little island in Douglas bay which has a small castle – a really small castle - on it. I knew it probably wouldn't be medieval, although I wish it was. Susan thought it was a Victorian folly, and Roger said he thought it might be something to do with the Napoleonic war, but it we asked about it – well Titty and I did – when we went to the museum and we were all wrong. It was built to shelter anyone who was shipwrecked and managed to get to the rock when the sea was too bad for them to be rescued by lifeboat, which apparently has happened.

The scenery gives me plenty of ideas for stories – too many really. I find I can't settle on one long enough. Please pass on our love to the rest of the Coots – including William who definitely counts as an honorary Coot of course.

With love from Dorothea

* * *

Dear Bridgie and Mother,

Douglas is a little bit like Hollywood, in that it has, big letters on the hillside at one end, but they say "ELECTRIC RAILWAY". There are plenty of places to buy ices and lots of different flavours. Susan says to say she reminded Roger to go and get his hair cut before term starts – which he has done. That reminded Peggy that Mrs Blackett had reminded her to remind Nancy to get her hair cut too. It was rather funny seeing Peggy being firm with Captain Nancy. When Nancy came back to _Sea Bear_ she had had it cut, but a lot shorter that Mrs Blackett probably meant. It's not quite as short as an Eton crop, but it's quite definitely a crop. Nancy said if she didn't try it she'd never know if she liked it and it would be easier to wash anyway.

There is a place here where they will post kippers for you, even to places that are "across" which is how some people here describe England. Susan has arranged for two pairs of kippers to be posted you. I expect they will arrive by the same post as this letter.

We have one more night here and then the next place we're visiting is Castletown.

With lots of love to you both from Titty

* * *

From Dick Callum to his father.

…still hope to see Manx sheerwaters properly. It is really quite easy to see where the icesheet stopped. North of Ramsey, the island is much flatter. ….

* * *

We spent today in Douglas. There is a very informative museum here and the gardens on the promenade are pleasant. Margaret reminded to visit a hairdresser.

With love Ruth and Margaret.

 _Peggy was right, Nancy admitted to herself, it really had been her turn to send something. The picture postcard of the horse tram was unexceptional enough, the museum, judging by what Titty, Dot and Dick had said, was informative and she had indeed visited the hairdresser. Nancy had the uncomfortable feeling that her newly cropped hair made her look younger rather than more adult. Well, it would grow again eventually if she didn't get used to it._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 –Correspondence from Castletown**

 **From Nancy Blackett to her mother and great aunt.**

There is indeed a Castle in Castletown, Castle Rushen. The capital of the island moved to Douglas from Castletown in 1869. The harbour is also pleasant and educational. With much love from Ruth.

 **From Titty Walker to her Mother and Bridget:**

…and we really have kept our word, or rather Nancy's word and the only adventures have been the seeing interesting things sort, not the sort that anyone could worry about at all. We had our best one today. Or at least Susan, Peggy and I did. A woman was very nearly knocked off her bicycle today near us. The car just whooshed past and carried on, but she had swerved. Anyhow, she got into a frightful tangle with it and got lots of scrapes and bruises – and when she was disentangling herself the bicycle, but fortunately not the woman, ended up in the harbour. Dick and Nancy have fished it out now, and Captain Flint and Roger have carried it off to a bicycle shop for repairs. Susan put iodine on the cuts and witchhazel on the bruises and checked her over, and we gave her a cup of tea with lots of sugar and rowed to her friend's house. And I really do mean to the house, because it has a boathouse in the basement.

The tide doesn't come up as far as it used to, so you can't row directly into the boathouse, but you can come alongside the rocks and scramble up onto them and get to the boathouse that way, although it was pretty slippery. If you know where to look there is a ring to fasten the dinghy to. Her friend had seen her and had come down to undo the padlock on the doors and inside…..

Inside was a yacht. She's called the "Peggy", which explains why the woman we rescued seemed so charmed when she discovered Peggy's name. Her friend explained that they had only just rediscovered the yacht and the way into the boathouse, which is underneath the house really. You go in at street level from the road and the boathouse is the basement. They believe that the yacht has been there since about the 1790's and belonged to someone called George Quayle and that it's thought that he sailed it to the Lake – our Lake and raced it in a regatta there, which he won. I didn't know that they had racing just for the fun of it so early. Peggy (Amazon)said that they probably brought Peggy (yacht) up from the foot of the Lake. They were even more delight when Peggy told them where she was from. …

 **From Nancy Blackett to John Walker**

…She's clinker built and schooner rigged and is lying on her starboard side. They seem to have had some sort of winching gear to haul her into the cavern. There isn't exactly a centreboard, but some sort of sliding arrangement – I don't quite know what to call it and neither does Uncle Jim. Dick has made a drawing of it in his notebook and I'll copy it out on the other side of this paper when Peg has finished with the pencil. Anyway, of all of us, you have the best chance of finding out what it is called. Not now I mean, but when ashore.

Best of all, Peggy is armed. (The ship I mean. We haven't brought bows with us!) Six cannon, I think. It was pretty lucky that Titty had the presence of mind to ask if the rest of us might see it and if Dick might take of photograph. I don't think that Susan would have been too happy if we'd just knock on the door and asked to see it, but that's what I'd have had to do if Titty hadn't thought to ask. (A midnight excursion would have been better, but it won't be long enough after low water and we did promise Mother there would be no adventures.) Uncle Jim managed to see it by calling round to report on the bicycle and then hoping we hadn't been any trouble. As if we would! He timed his visit pretty smartly though, because he and Roger were entertained with tea and bonnagg which is a kind of Manx bunloaf. I've only seen the word, not seen it written so I'm not sure of the spelling. Anyway, the rest of us – that is Dick, Dot and me had wait until this morning to see it. …..

 **Dorothea Callum to her parents**

… I don't know if the house is Georgian or earlier, but there is a kind of window seat arrangement, only two layers of it and the room is mostly panelled. But a section of the seat lifts up and you can go down to the boat house by a little staircase/ ladder arrangement, which is how come hardly anyone knew about the yacht for ages and ages. It simply begs for a story…

 **Dick Callum to Joe Southgate**

1 bicycle (ladies, Raleigh) salvaged from Castletown harbour. 1 hidden 18thC yacht seen. 0 hidden tunnels discovered. 0 Manx shearwaters seen.

 **Roger Walker to his father**

… while we were waiting in the bicycle shop for them to say if the frame could be straightened, they were talking about tunnels from the castle to the town itself. They wouldn't have to be that long, the castle is pretty much in the town really….

A/N: _I've taken great liberties with the borderline between truth and fiction here as well as with the layout of the harbour at Castletown. Obviously (I hope) the woman who was knocked off her bicycle and her friend are not in any way intended to actually represent any real person, living or dead. "_ Peggy" _, it would seem is already rediscovered, which would place this story in 1935, thus using the_ Swallowdale _timeline, but since I am playing fast and loose with events perhaps it does not matter._

 _That said, a search for "Peggy of Castletown" might well entertain you. She is indeed a real yacht and I have seen her with my own eyes before her removal for conservation. For the purposes of this story, I'm identifying the Lake as Windermere._

 _Dot is quite right. Perhaps something in the style of Stanley J Weyman or one of Georgette Heyer's more adventurous stories?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Post from Port St. Mary**

"A post card will do, won't it?" said Peggy, "You wrote them quite a long letter from Castletown."

"I just sent a postcard from Castletown." Nancy said. "But I don't see why we shouldn't just send a postcard from here too."

 _Port St Mary is very pleasant and much smaller and quieter than Douglas. The scenery in the South of the Island is picturesque and a bit like home. Love Ruth and Margaret_

* * *

 **Susan Walker to John Walker**

…so Titty and Dick walked around to the Calf Sound and on to Port Erin and I ended up watching Roger learn to ride a motor bike for part of the morning and making polite conversation with this motorcycle chap's mother. She's a nice enough person but slightly obsessive about croquet. They insisted we stayed for lunch. I wasn't really sure why he had insisted on Roger bringing me (or, I suppose Titty) with him. At least, I wasn't until we actually arrived, and he looked very slightly disappointed for a tiny moment – although he was perfectly decent about it and did absolutely nothing else to let disappointment show. I'm quite sure now that he thought Nancy was Roger's sister and was rather hoping she would turn up. Naturally Roger is desperate for a motorbike now. (I suspect from this chap's reaction that Roger really was picking it up a lots quicker than most, although it's rather putting on side to say so and I wouldn't to Roger. He's cheeky enough as it is.)

* * *

 **Nancy Blackett to Helen Blackett (her aunt)**

…so Mother heroically went off to Harrogate, Cook is in Lytham for a fortnight and we are circumnavigating the Isle of Man on Seabear and having tame time of it, although it's jolly enough. Sailing couldn't not be, really. We're spending two nights in Port St Mary. Titty and Dick went off gone off looking for sea birds and seals and wildflowers (Titty got a booklet in Douglas). With one looking upwards and one looking at the ground there was a reasonable chance that they wouldn't fall down a mineshaft or not notice a change in the weather. I was enough of a galoot to say so to Susan, who hadn't thought of mineshafts and started worrying. She had to go and watch Roger falling off a motorbike with the fellow we gave some petrol to in Ramsey. I think it was by way of thanks for getting him out of an awkward spot. The rest of us sailed Seabear in the morning and walked to Port Erin in the afternoon, meeting the others there for an ice and walking back. Uncle Jim had a foreword to write for someone's book.

* * *

 **Titty to her mother and Bridget**

Quite a number of them, although I think it might have been better earlier in the year. Dick saw plenty of seabirds. When you get to the most southerly point there is a strait between the Isle of Man and the Calf of Man, which is a little island that no-one lives on. (A proper island you could live on it). There was a much smaller island in the Calf Sound (which is what the strait is called) with seals on it. We couldn't count them very accurately, even with Dick's binoculars. We spent so long watching them that we had to get a bit of a move on to meet the others in Port Erin. We were late in the end, because we were just coming down the hill into Port Erin when we saw a basking shark. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it was, and so are Dick and Nancy (who climbed part of the way up towards the headland to see what was taking us so long).

* * *

Dick Callum to Tom Dudgeon

Manx shearwaters, kittwakes, razorbill (I think) and choughs (quite sure). Also basking shark and some seals – I think 10, but too far to count. Hope your hols are decent, Dick.


End file.
